A Journey from Jewish Cult to Christian Liturgy

Abstract

Cults have left people with ambivalent feelings, since on one hand they have been associated with malice or animus enormity and on the other hand they have brought people together to the extent people have become a unified entity with intimate relationships because of common interests. It has been alleged that there is no much of a difference between a religion and a cult since most of the religions of the world began as cults like Jansenism and Taoism. This article seeks to show how Christian liturgy as understood by the Catholic Church is rooted on Jewish cult. However, the discussion will not exhaust the liturgical facets that justify the grafting of the Catholic Christian liturgy on Jewish cult. The work commences with the definition of terms, explaining the three centres of Jewish worship that influenced Christian liturgy and then discuss the connection between the Jewish cult and the Mass, liturgical vestments, and the calendar. Thereafter, I will justify the Jewish origin of the Liturgy of Hours and Christian initiation (Baptism). This will be followed by an evaluation and a conclusion drawn that to a great extent the Catholic Christian liturgy was prompted and exacerbated from the Jewish cult.